Rahul Kohli welcomed the opportunity to star in Midnight Mass but admits that he took things in an unhealthy direction.
Kohli gained 30 pounds for the role of Sheriff Hassan, he told Men’s Health, but “the bad way,” without the guidance of a nutritionist and by filling up on McFlurries. “I just was like ‘Eat crap, eat crap, eat crap.’ And we got there.”
Kohli said it was important for him to embody Sheriff Hassan. “The Sheriff role in cinema, and TV, for many years, is one of the most iconic American heroes, and it has existed for years. And [Flanagan] had taken America’s greatest hero in cinema, and cast a man who has the physicality, or at least the look, of America’s greatest villain post-9/11: the bearded brown man,” he said.
But the filming schedule worked against him: the first table read for Midnight Mass in Vancouver was March 13, 2020, just when the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hit and caused a production shutdown. Kohli returned home to Los Angeles, and the added weight during the delay caused him physical distress such as stomach issues, heartburn and breathing problems that interrupted his sleep. In the end, when the COVID shutdown was lifted in Vancouver, trainers helped him bulk up with muscle.
Kohli said, “It was the stupidest method acting nonsense I’ve ever done, where I put on all the kind of weight that the industry would be like ‘Oooh, look at him!,’ only to have to lose it all and hit the gym hard.”
All seven episodes of Midnight Mass are streaming on Netflix.
Source: Men’s Health
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